Dear PAGNY Providers,
In the immediate aftermath of the murders of black men and women like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, we have seen people of color and their allies rise up in protest around the country against injustice and systemic racism. This is a crisis point that highlights the lack of social, political, and economic justice our country affords to black and brown people. But this is a public health issue as well.
We see every day the health disparities that exist for men and women in the majority minority communities we serve. The medical community has come to understand how the social determinants of health -- education, socioeconomic status, employment, community safety, environment, and many others -- so often have a greater impact on our patients' outcomes than medical intervention. We know the effects of the fear, injury, and death visited by policing upon black neighborhoods especially, but also other minority groups, sends individuals from those communities into our hospitals every day. It manifests in minds as well as bodies.
PAGNY Providers are mission-driven and care deeply about providing the highest quality care to New Yorkers, particularly those with nowhere else to turn. It is important that as physicians and allied health professionals in largest public health system in the country -- with all the privilege and status that distinction confers -- PAGNY stands as one in condemnation of tactics that only further harm our patients and their families and in solidarity with our Providers, patients and fellow New Yorkers.
Today, and every day we make a commitment to ourselves, to our patients, to our community, and to each other to work together against injustice.
Sincerely,
Bijan Safai, MD, DSc
President, Board of Directors
Luis R. Marcos, MD
Chief Executive Officer